How to Remove the Grey Bars on My Panasonic Plasma TV

Mandy SlakeUpdated February 21, 2017

If you watch a lot of standard 4:3 image programs on your plasma television, the pixels in the centre wear out and lose their brightness faster than the pixels on the edge. To combat this problem, the sidebars on a Panasonic plasma television are set to grey by default. If you find the grey bars distracting, you can adjust the brightness of the bars in the TV's menu.

Press the "MENU" button on the remote control.

Scroll down to the wrench icon and press the right arrow button to open the Settings menu.

Select "Anti Image Retention" and open "4:3 side bars."

Adjust the brightness of the side bars by selecting "Off," "Dark" or "Mid." The default setting is "Bright."

Press the "EXIT" button to exit the menu.

Tip

Press the "FORMAT" button on the remote to cycle through the different screen modes. The "FULL" and "JUST" format stretch the image to cover the entire screen. The "ZOOM" format zooms in on the picture and crops the top and bottom. The "H-FILL" is a compromise. It zooms and stretches the image, but not as drastically as the other settings.